Method of treating ramie fiber.



UNiTn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HEINRICH LINNEKOGEL, OF STUTTGART, GERMANY.

METHOD OF TREATING RAMIE FIBER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 679,508, dated July 30,1901.

Application filed August 25, 1899- Selial No. 728,498- (No specimens.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HEINRICH LINNEKOGEL, physician, a subject of theKing of Wiirtemberg, residing at 48 Kronenstrasse III, Stuttgart, in theKingdom of VViirtemberg, Germany, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Methods of Treating Ramie Fibers, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the treating of ramie fiber inorder to render it fit for the manufacture of shirts and other articlesof wearing-apparel. By this treating of the fiber it is deprived ofgummy matter and loses its brittleness.

For this purpose the ramie fiber is treated in the vacuum by means ofsoap, soda, (Na Go J glycerin, and pumice until all brittle substancesare removed. The amounts of the ingredients are about as follows: onehundred kilograms of the dried ramie fiber; ten kilograms of soap,twenty kilograms of soda, (Na Oo ten kilograms of glycerin, and onekilogram of pumice. These substances are mixed with a sufficientquantity of water free of lime, and the mixture is boiled about twelveto sixteen hours. After that time the fiberis dried and then again drawnthrough a five-per-cent. solution of soap, while any particles of woodare removed by means of a fiveper-cent. solution of sulfuric acid. Theobject of the pumice at this procedure is to loosen the fibers by directfriction. By treating the ramie fiber this way the fibernow free fromgummy matter becomes very hygroscopic, the shirts made of it gaining ahigh hygenic quality.

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

The method of treating ramie fiber for deprivin g it of gummy matter,consistingin mixing dried ramie fiber (about one hundred parts), soap(about ten parts), soda=Na Oo (about twenty parts), glycerin -(about tenparts), and pumice (about one part) with a sufficient quantity of waterfree of lime, boiling this mixture about twelve to sixteen hours, againdrawing the fiber through an about fivepercent. solution of soap andremoving any particles of wood by means of an about fiveper-"cent.solution of sulfuric acid.

In witness whereof Ihave hereunto set my hand in presence of twowitnesses.

HEINRICH LINNEKOGEL. Witnesses:

WM. HAHN, H. WAGNER.

